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This homemade fajita seasoning is an easy way to boost the flavors in your favorite Mexican recipes! Make it with 7 ingredients you already have in the spice rack, and keep it in the pantry for months.
Use your fresh seasoning to spice up your next batch of sizzling steak fajitas or chicken fajita bowls for a quick and delicious weeknight dinner!
Say it with me: No more buying fajita, taco, or whatever-else-seasoning packets from the store! It’s so much better when you make it at home! This homemade fajita seasoning doesn’t need fancy ingredients. Just mix a handful of zesty, earthy spices, and voila! Plus, it’s a million times fresher and more flavorful than anything I’ve had from a jar or packet. Sorry, Old El Paso, it’s nothing personal.
Why You’ll Love This Fajitas Seasoning Recipe
- Better than store-bought. All it took was a glance at the ingredients list on my favorite store-bought fajita seasoning to know that I could do better. Making it at home means fresher spices and no funny additives or fillers. I also have Jamaican jerk seasoning and chicken seasoning recipes for the same reason!
- Easy ingredients. I’ll bet you have most of them in the spice rack already. And if you don’t, the seasoning ingredients are easy to find in just about any grocery store or supermarket.
- Versatile. I’ll turn chicken, salad, and just about anything into a Tex-Mex meal. This fajita seasoning helps me do it. Use it on fajitas and tacos, and add it to soups, fajita bowls, picadillo, casseroles, and more.
What’s In Fajita Seasoning?
Fajita seasoning is a blend of spices you’ll find in Mexican cooking, including:
- Chili powder
- Paprika
- Garlic powder
- Cumin
- Dried oregano
- Salt and black pepper
The key to making the best-tasting seasonings is to use the freshest spices you can find. Check the labels and make sure they’re not past their best-before date. For the complete recipe, including ingredient amounts, scroll to the recipe card below the post.
Fajita Seasoning vs. Taco Seasoning
Fajita seasoning and taco seasoning have a lot in common, ingredients-wise. The difference is mostly in the heat levels. Since most fajita recipes make the meat and vegetables the star of the show, fajita seasoning tends to be bold but not fiery.
Taco seasoning, on the other hand, is made to bring out the flavors of slow-cooked meats like beef birria and chicken tinga. So, the seasoning is heavier on the spice and is made with extra chili powder, cayenne pepper, and chili flakes.
I personally find both seasonings to be pretty interchangeable in most recipes! And the best part is, when you make them at home, you can adjust all these flavors to taste.
Ways to Use Fajitas Seasoning Mix
Obviously, you can use your seasoning on fajita recipes, like shrimp fajitas, vegetarian mushroom fajitas, and sheet pan fajitas. But there are plenty of ways to use this seasoning that go beyond the obvious:
- Tacos. Spice up the meat in chicken tacos, pork carnitas tacos, and more.
- Crock pot recipes. Use this to season your favorite slow cooker recipes, from crock pot fajitas to salsa verde chicken and pulled chicken.
- Meal bowls. Boost the flavors in fajita bowls, taco bowls, and burrito bowls, and use fajita seasoning to spice up the protein in your favorite rice bowls.
- Casseroles. Use fajita seasoning as a stand-in for taco seasoning in recipes like this taco casserole and tamale pie.
- Soups, stews, and chili. Amp up the flavor of enchilada soup and taco soup, or add this seasoning to a crock pot of beef chili.
- Tex-Mex. Season the filling for beef and chicken enchiladas or spice the chicken for a Southwest chicken salad.
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Fajitas Seasoning
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Stir to combine all ingredients and store in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Equipment
Notes
- This makes about 2 Tablespoons seasoning, enough for 1.5 to 2 pounds of meat or chicken. Scale the recipe as needed.
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
How to Make Fajitas Seasoning
Making fajita seasoning is as easy as combining the spices and stirring them together. That’s it! This recipe makes about 2 tablespoons of seasoning, enough to season 1½-2 pounds of chicken.
I like to scale up the recipe and store the seasoning in mason jars to keep in the pantry. It stays fresh for months! See the section earlier for storage tips and more ways to use it.
How to Store It
Keep this fajita seasoning sealed inside a glass jar or container and store it in the pantry for up to 3 months.
I liked it. It was quick and easy to make with what I had on hand. I used the appropriate amount of spice given the amount of meat I had, about a third cup of water, olive oil, and leftover pork from a Boston Butt roast from the night before. I tossed everything plus the onion, peppers, more fresh garlic and the meat into a large skillet. The steam from the water cooked the vegetables faster, and as that evaporated, the olive oil gave the meat a nice carnita-like sear. When cooked through I squeezed a half a fresh lime over all. My husband said they were the best fajitas he’d ever eaten. Kudos to your spice mix for that!
Thank YOU!! I am very happy you enjoyed it!! π
Excellent homemade spice mix. I will never buy packet fajita mix again.
It was fantastic, only thing is I needed about twice as much fajita mix as the recipe made. But really yummy!
Thanks for the recipe! I used Mexican oregano instead of plain oregano. Mexican oregano has a different flavor profile that makes Tex-Mex dishes taste amazing! I sauteed 2 lbs of chicken, peppers and onions in 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Then I added 1 Tbsp of cornstarch and a 1/4 cup of water to your spice mixture and poured it over everything and let it simmer for about 8 minutes. It was delicious! Next time, I’m going to use flank steak and let it sit in the marinade for a couple of hours and throw everything on the grill. Can’t wait!
Perfect spice blend, I marinated the meat for an hour in the spices and made the best fajitas ever!
Thanks for the recipe x
Quite hot. Sorry but not that impressed with the flavour. Not sure why the Oregano is in there as it seems out of place..
Oregano is usually used in Taco seasoning – it’s what differs a fajita mix vs a taco mix. One would not typically see it in this recipe, but to each taste buds their own π
Absolutely delicious – wonβt be buying packet mix again! Fantastic find!
Came up as the first google search, I had all the spices and it took the length of time I would have spent looking for it at the supermarket. Easy and delicious!
Made this seasoning andit was pretty good. I had leftover pork so made pork fajitas.
Best fajita seasoning I’ve tried so far! I used half the recipe (~1 tbsp) for 0.9 lbs of chicken. I only had Hungarian style sweet paprika but it wasn’t a problem.